Rail chair



July 24, 1923.

w. R. GORRELL ET AL RAIL cHAIn Y Filed Oct. 26, 1922 (Ill M/Iiam 1?. Gme 1 Henry .Barhschaf.

Patented July 24, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- WILLIAM R. GORRELL AND HENRY BARKSCHAT, LOSANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

RAIL CHAIR.

Application filed October 26, 1922. Serial No. 597,198. i

. California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements, in RailChairs; and we 'do declare the following to be a full,

clear, and exact description of the inven-.

tion, such as will enable others skilled in the art towhich itappertains to make and use the same. I c I This invention relatesgenerally to rail chairs, but particularly to rail fastening devices forrail chairs and is an im rovement upon the device disclosed in No.1,402,."60, granted on January 10, 1922 to the present inventors.

The device disclosed by the aforesaid pat ent consists of a railsupporting member provided with a pair 'of vertical openings in whichare disposed expansible rail spike clamps. These clamps are providedwith eccentrically disposed spike-receiving openings and are reversiblein the openings of the supporting member, but are not invertible so thatthey have to be inserted in the openings of the supporting member withcertain of their ends uppermost, and consequently in order for thedevice to be i used, the supporting member must be placed so as to haveone of its sides uppermost.

The present invention is an improvement upon the above described device,because the rail supporting member may be used with either of its sidesuppermost and the spikereceiving clamps are not only reversible in theopenings in said member but are also invertible so that they may beinserted with either of their ends uppermost.

The improvements forming the subject matter of the present inventionrender the device as a whole extremely simple, cheap and durable inconstruction, and the patentable novelty in the improved device residesin the unique combination and arrangement of parts and the variousdetails of construction which are hereinafter fully described andclaimed and illustrated in a atent practicalembodiment in theaccompanying drawing.

In the accompanying drawing, which forms a part of this specificationand throughout which similar reference characters are used to designatecorresponding parts a v Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partlybroken awayand in section, of a rail chair in which the improvements forming thesubject matter of the. embodied; 1

V Fig. 2 is a top plan view, partly broken away and in section, of theimproved rail chair. c 4 Fig. 3 is a perspective view, with a por tionbroken away, of the rail chairiproper or the rail supporting member.Figs. 4 and 6 are side elevations of the complementary parts: of oneofthe rail spike-receiving clamps; and

Figs. 5 and 7 are top plan or end views of the complementary parts of.the rail present invention are spike-receiving clamp illustrated inFigs. 4

and .6 respectively.

In the drawing above briefly described, the numeral 1 designates as awhole arailsupporting member. This is preferably of the I-beam typehaving parallel flanges 2 and3 integrally connected by a web 4. Insofaras the improvements forming the sub ject matter of the present inventionare concerned, the rail-supporting member 1 does not have :to be of theI-beam type,.but it can be of anyother type that is desired.

The rail-supporting member 1 is pro vided with a pair of spaced openingswhich extend vertically. therethrough from one'side thereof; to itsother side. When the mem ber l is of the I-beam type, such asillustrated in the drawing, these vertical openings are formed by meansof alined sub stantially H-shaped openings 5 in 'the flanges 2 and' 3and openings or slots 6 in the Web 4;, the openings or slots 6communicating at their ends with the alined openings 5 in the flanges 2'and 3.

The opposite edges of the openings or slots 6 are provided with concavedportions sections of the clamps are fitted together theircross-sectional contour is of substantially H-shape, corresponding withthe shape of the openings 5.

In. Figsst and5 of the drawing, the numeral 8 designates one of thesections or parts of one of the, rail spike-receiving clamps and inFigs. 6 and 7 the complementary section of the clamp is designated bythe numeral 9. i From these views, it will be seen that the l-l-shapecontour of the clamp is formed by providing channels in theside' edgesof the sections Sand 9, these channels 10 being designed to receive theedges of-the slots or openings 6 in the web 4 of the rail-supportingmember 1. The channels 1030f both sections 8 and are of the same depth.

The inner sides of the sections 8 and 9, are also'provi'ded withchannels 11. These channels 11 are arranged in opposing relation toeachother so that they form passages '12 extending vertically throughthe clamp from one end thereof to the other.

These passages 12 are disposed eccentri ca'lly withrespect to thecentral axes of the clamps, since the channels 11 in the clamp sections9 are'deeper than the channels 11 in the sections 8. The channels 12 aredesigned to receive the spikeswhich anchor a rail *tothe supportingmember 1 and therefore in order toprovide a means whereby the spikes maybe held in place when once driven in 'said pass'ages, the latter attheir opposite ends are provided with bends 13 whichareformed by curvedprojections 14 located in the channels ll'of'one section and oppositelydisposed depressions 15 in the ,7 channels 11 of" the other section.This con struction causes the spikes when driven into thepassages 12to'be bent to fit the projectionsll and depressions 15.

Formed upon the sections 8 and 9 of the rail spike-receiving clamps and"located within the channels 10 of said sections are projections 16'.These projections 16 are disposed midway between the opposite ends ofthejsections 8 and 9 and are intended to fit in thenotches 7 formed, inthe edges of the slots'or openings 6 of the web 4 of-the railsupporting'member 1. In using devices constructed as described in theforegoing, a number of the rail chairs vertible. spike-receiving clampsshould therr be in vare secured to a wooden or concrete tie or imbeddedin a roadbed in a steel tie in any suitable manner. In arranging thesupporting members 1 inplace upon the ties or the roadbed, they may beplaced with either side uppermost since they are in- The two-part; orvtwo-section serted, when in contracted condition, into the ert al penngs in, t e na l s pport members 1. In inserting the clamps in theopenings in the rail supporting members 1, they may be placed witheither of their ends uppermost "since they are invertible in saidopenings, but since the passages 12 extending therethrough areeccentrically disposed, the clamps should be insertedin the openingsinthe supporting members so that said passages 12 will be [in properpositions to receive the spikes bywhich a rail is fastened to themembers: '1.*'A fter the clainpsare in place, and the rail, s u'ch asdeslgnated by the letterR in Fig." 1,"is

placed upon the members l,"spikes S-shoul'd be driven into the passages12. When't'he spikes S are driven into the passages 12 0f the clamps,the sections 8 and 9 thereofwill be expanded and: the projections 16will be inserted into the notches? in such a manner that the clamps willbe locked in place in the openings through the member 1*a'nd cannot bemoved therefrom until after the spikes S are withdrawn "from thepassages'12. i

From the foregoing description,taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing; the construction, use and operation of-the device will bereadily understood without requiring a more extended: explanation:

It is obvious that certain changesinform,

proportion, and in the various detailsof construction, may be madewithout sacrifie mg any of the advantages or," departing from theprincipleof the inventionfan d it is therefore to be understood that;such changes may be madewithin the meaning and scope of the appendedclaims;

l/Vhat i'sclaimed is: 1 i 1. In a rail chair, thecombinationofarailsupporting member having an openingextendingvertically therethrough, an expansible, invertible, rail'spike-receiving clamp disposed in said opening, and interee'ngag ingelements carried by said member and said clamp for. locking thelatteriin said 5 1 opening when in expanded position, "said elementsbeing positloned' upon sal'd memher and said clamp so that thelatterniay be invertedin said opening.-

2. In a rail'chair, the combination' o f a rail-supporting member havingopening extending vertically therethrough, 'tli op posite edges of saidopening being-provided with opposed notches, said notche's'being locatedmidway of the ends of said opening, ends of'said clamp so that thelatter may an expansible, invertible rail spike-receivbe inverted insaid opening. ing clamp disposed in said opening, the opposite edges ofsaid clamp being provided 5 with projections adapted to fit into saidnotches when said clamp is expanded, said WILLIAM R. GORRELL.projections being located midway of the HENRY BARKSCHAT.

afiixed our signatures.

In testimony whereof we'have hereunto

